Walter Pall's main blog about bonsai and his work with trees from day to day. Lots of good pictures of good trees and lots of valuable information about bonsai.

Sunday, June 28, 2009

spruce # 52 part two

First the nebari was dug up which was hidden under moss.Somebody has worked on the stumps many years ago. After more than fifteen years one can still see the crude work with a die grinder. This is amateurish, but it was state of the art here in Europe fifteen to twenty years ago. This is certainly not good enough anymore. So all the stumps were worked over, the shari line was extended and connected with the main deadwood stump. Then structure was created with a fine die grinder bit. Afterwards the deadwood was treated with a small torch and then brushed with a brass brush. This work is not finished. It is very difficult to get an instant finished look on deadwood that is still moist. So I will finish it in two years after the wire goes off again. The major branches were wired and put into position to have a rough sketch. The sketch looks OK and so we will continue to finish the tree.

All the smaller branches were wired. The second top to the right was jinned and then everything was put into position. The top jin was shortened. Now everything comes together. What looked way too sparse looks dense, the branches that came all from one spot now look ordered, but natural, the top jin looks credible. A bonsai in the naturalistic style should look credible from all sides. Here we have more than one side which could be used as front. The whole thing looks like recently done and thus artificial still, of course. The deadwood will bleach. In two months I will apply lime sulphur all over the deadwood.

The quality test for a tree in the naturalistic design is to try and put it into a natural landscape. if it looks like it belongs there it is OK. If it looks artificial then you should try again. Naturalistic bonsai fit very well onto natural stones. I love this combination of high spruce with my German sinter stones. The virtuals show a stone container and a regular bonsai pot. I think the stone is much more interesting.Now the tree will rest as is for a year. Until spring of 2010 I can find the right stone for it.O yes, the price tag was removed altogether. In two years the wire will go off. The deadwood will be enhanced. Then it will be fully wired again for another two to three years.The comparison with the picture of the day before shows the progress.

A whole photo album is still just 2D, and a dramatic subject such as this makes the limitations somewhat frustrating...

Are you planning to address in any way the sudden change in the trunk's girth after the gutted nebari? It seems somehat awkward for now, but also with potential to allow some interesting play with proportions and perspective in the future?